Exodus 22:31

Exodus 22:31 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
• New International Version (NIV)“You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.
• English Standard Version (ESV)"You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Context of Exodus 22:31

29Do not refuse to offer your grain, your wine or your olive oil to me. You must give your firstborn sons to me. 30Do the same thing with your cows and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days. But on the eighth day, you must give them to me. You must live as my special people. So do not eat any meat from your animals that wild animals have killed. Instead, you must give it as food to the dogs.

Exodus 22:31 word by word

וְאַנְשֵׁי־קֹ֖דֶשׁ תִּהְי֣וּן לִ֑י וּבָשָׂ֨ר בַּשָּׂדֶ֤ה טְרֵפָה֙ לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֔לוּ לַכֶּ֖לֶב תַּשְׁלִכ֥וּן אֹתֽוֹ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And ye shall be holyקֹ֫דֶשׁqôdesh · holinessH6944
• menאֱנוֹשׁ'ĕnôsh · humanH582
• unto me: neither shall ye eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
• torn of beastsטְרֵפָהţerêphâh · torn animalH2966
• in the fieldשָׂדֶהώâdeh ώâday · land: countryH7704
• ye shall castשָׁלַךְshâlak · to throwH7993
• it to the dogsכֶּ֫לֶבkeleb · dogH3611

Cross-references for Exodus 22:31

• Exodus 19:5Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations.
• Leviticus 11:45I am the Lord who brought you away from Egypt. I became your God. So be holy because I am holy.” ’
• Leviticus 19:2‘Speak to Israel's people. They must be holy because I am holy. You must tell them that.
• Deuteronomy 14:21You must not eat anything that you find dead already. You may give it to a foreign person who lives in any of your towns. He may eat it. You may give it to him or sell it to him. But you yourselves are special people who belong to the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in the milk from its mother.
• 1 Peter 1:15God has chosen you to be his own people. He is completely good. So you must be completely good too, in the way that you live.
• Leviticus 17:15An Israelite or a foreign person may find a dead animal. If he eats it, he must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening. Then he will become clean. A person might find an animal or a bird that a wild animal has killed. He must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening.
• Leviticus 20:25The people must know which animals are clean. And they must know which animals are unclean. They must know which birds are clean. And they must know which birds are unclean. They must not eat any animal or bird that is unclean.
• Leviticus 22:8He might find something that is dead. He must not eat it. He must not eat anything that an animal has torn. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord.
• Ezekiel 4:14Then I said, ‘No, Almighty Lord, I could not use human dung. It would make me unclean. Since I was a child I have never eaten any food that would make me unclean. I have never eaten meat from a dead animal that people have found. I have not eaten meat from an animal that wild animals have killed.’
• Ezekiel 44:31The priests must not eat any bird or any animal that people find dead. They must not eat anything that a wild animal has killed.” ’
• Acts 10:14Peter answered, ‘No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.’
• Acts 15:20Instead of that, we should write a letter to tell them how to live as believers. We should say to them, “Do not eat any food which people have given to their idols. That food has become unclean. Do not have sex with anyone that you are not married to. If people have strangled an animal to kill it, do not eat its meat. Do not eat anything that still has blood in it.”

Commentaries on Exodus 22:31

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31Neither shall ye eat - flesh - torn of beasts in the field - This has been supposed to be an ordinance against eating flesh cut off the animal while alive, and so the Syriac seems to have understood it. If we can credit Mr. Bruce, this is a frequent custom in Abyssinia; but human nature revolts from it. The reason of the prohibition against eating the flesh of animals that had been torn, or as we term it worried in the field, appears to have been simply…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31The sanctification of the nation was emphatically symbolized by strictness of diet as regards both the kind of animal, and the mode of slaughtering. See Leviticus 11; 17.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31In the Bible, blood has symbolic meaning because it represents life. For this reason, God forbade people to eat meat that still had blood in it (see Leviticus 17:10–16).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-311-4. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep--The law respects the theft of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he (the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty…Read the comment

Topics related to Exodus 22:31

• Food
• Holiness

In the dictionaries

• Book
• Cause
• Curse
• Feed
• Food
• God
• Put
• Restore
• Revile
• Theft

Commentaries on Exodus 22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings